Vengeance
by Christina TM
Summary: Lee's thoughts as he faces Ricky Tan.


DISCLAIMER: RUSH HOUR 2 is not mine. The direct quotes in here aren't mine either.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I have found that the Internet, which is supposedly a vast resource of information, is sorely lacking in one area: RUSH HOUR fanfic! So I have sought to put an end to that by posting what is (I think) the first-ever RUSH HOUR story at FF.Net! Yes, I edited out the obscenities…I simply did not find them necessary.  
  
RATED: PG for mild violence.  
  
ARCHIVES: Ask and ye shall receive.  
  
*************  
  
VENGEANCE  
  
*************  
  
I burst into the room, but I stop dead when I see Steven Reign's body on the floor with a knife stuck in his chest. I look up at Ricky. I know he did it.  
  
"Just like your father." Ricky says to me. "I really did try to help him, you know. To share with him, to make your life better. But he was too weak, too afraid of change."  
  
"Give me the plates." I say. "It's over."  
  
"I don't think it's over." Ricky says. "There are casinos all over this country. I can make you a very rich man, Lee. Don't make the same mistake your father did."  
  
*My father made no mistakes.* I think. *His only mistake was choosing you for his partner.* "If you're rich for that, I'll kill you." I say.  
  
Ricky turns around and looks at me. "Don't you remember? I'm already dead." Suddenly he picks up a chair and throws it at me. I duck out of the way, pull out my gun, and hold Ricky to the wall by his throat and point the gun at his head.  
  
"Hey, Ricky, how ya doin'?" Carter says as he enters. Inwardly, I groan. *Just what I need. Carter coming along to see this.*  
  
"Lee, I see you got everything under control so I'm gonna go downstairs and…what is THAT?" Carter says. He must have just seen Reign on the floor. "What happened to Reign?"  
  
"Would you like to know how your father died?" Ricky asks.  
  
I don't respond. I simply pull back the hammer on the gun and intensify my glare. Every fiber in my body is quivering with five years of repressed rage.  
  
"Hold on. Wait one second, Lee. It ain't worth it, man. Don't let him trick you. Don't go too far." Carter says.  
  
"He never begged for his life, or tried to make a deal." Ricky continues mercilessly. "All he asked me, just seconds before I pulled the trigger, was that I'd promise not to kill you." He gives a disparaging laugh. "Oh, it was so pathetic."  
  
I will my eyes to burn holes right through him. I have a hard time believing he is telling me the truth. But not even Ricky Tan could stoop this low.  
  
"Oh, no, he's gone too far now." Carter says. "Just shoot him now, Lee, SHOOT HIM NOW!"  
  
"What are you going to do about it, Lee?" Ricky challenges.  
  
I increase pressure on his throat, an almost involuntary action.  
  
"All you gotta do is pull that trigger back and BAM!" Carter yells at me.  
  
"Are you going to spend the rest of your life hiding like your father?" Ricky asks.  
  
I increase pressure on his throat again, and my body is shaking even harder. I can't bear to hear someone talk about my father that way. My father was a courageous man. Ricky is the one who has been hiding all his life.  
  
"Man, don't let him talk about your daddy like that!" Carter says. "Shoot him, Lee!"  
  
"You can't do it, can you." Ricky says.  
  
"Oh, yes you can. Ain't no one up here but us, Lee!" Carter argues.  
  
"Come on." Ricky says. I can tell he doesn't think I can do it. At the moment, *I'm* not sure if I can do it.  
  
"If you ain't gonna shoot him, then use Kung Fu on him or something! Come on!" Carter says.  
  
"Carter!" I yell. I fire my gun accidentally, and all hell breaks loose. The next few seconds are a blur until, in a moment of insanity, I kick Ricky out the window. Carter and I run to the opening and see Ricky fall to his death, landing on a taxicab and setting off the car alarm.  
  
"Dang!" Carter exclaims. "Good kick, Lee."  
  
I wipe my sweaty hands on my pants as excess adrenaline continues to expend itself in worthless tremors. "It was an accident." I say. I had only meant to kick Ricky onto the floor and then I would shoot him.  
  
"It's OK." Carter says. "We'll just say he tried to catch a cab."  
  
I draw in a shaky breath, and then let it out slowly. I have finally put to rest all the anger that has been in my mind almost constantly for the past five years. I have finally avenged the death of my father and everyone else who has died at the point of Ricky Tan's gun. 


End file.
